It's that time of year again. Summer is gone, the air is cooling, the leaves are turning... and you may notice that your skin is acting up. You may notice more discoloration from the extra sun exposure or even more breakouts. Sound familiar? It's probably due to the changing seasons. Fall is here. Follow some of these fall skin care tips for healthy, balanced skin.

Is your skin more prone to breakouts in the fall?

Maybe.

Breakouts happen when dirt, oil and bacteria become trapped in your pores. During the summer months, your skin produces more of its own oils naturally. When fall arrives, your skin is still producing more oil than usual, but the cooling temperatures may keep your skin from shedding its dead skin cells as effectively. The result is more trapped oil, dirt and bacteria, which can lead to more blackheads and other breakouts until your skin adjusts to the changes.

Summer is by far my favorite time of the year. I love the sun, the longer days, the time outdoors, even the humidity.

With summer comes longer days, more time outdoors and if you’re like me, you want to spend less time fussing around with your face. Every change of the seasons is a chance to reevaluate and tweak your skin care routine.

The great thing about summer is that you can be a bit more relaxed with your routine. It's a great time to embrace minimal routines.

Spring is the season for renewal and cleansing. It's a great time to refresh your skin care routine and recommit yourself to wellness and self care. Here are 7 skin and wellness tips for Spring.

1. Wake up with an energizing morning scrub.

Coffee lover? Start your day by mixing a few tablespoons of coffee grounds and sugar with a little bit of shea butter. Take this mixture to the bath or shower and gently rub on your skin. If you're a coffee lover like me, you'll love how the aroma instantly wakes you up and energizes you for the day.

The coffee combo with sugar removes stubborn dead skin that can accumulate on your body during the winter months and the shea moisturizes your body for a healthy glow.

2. Get your feet sandal-ready with pedicures and shea butter.

Much like Fall, Winter can be a particularly troubling time for your skin. Plummeting temperatures and moisture levels in the air can aggravate dry skin conditions and rob you of the, oh so important, hydration levels that keep your skin balanced.

It's all about balance.

Proper skin care is all about balance and nourishment. When the air gets really cold and dry there are a few ways to compensate. All of the following winter skin care tips pave the way for your skin to receive the extra level of moisture, hydration and nutrients needed to balance the climate.

I hate to be a negative nancy, but let's be real. Although summer is awesome, it can wreak havoc on your skin if you're not careful.

So while I'm a huge advocate for minimal skincare rituals, I'd be doing you a disservice not to point out the unique ways that summer's sun and heat can make bad things happen to your skin and what to do to keep everything under control.

5 Bad Things That Happen to your Skin in the Summer and how to keep it in check.

You'll glow. Literally.

Wait this doesn't sound bad? Let me explain, it may not really be bad for everyone.

I'm talking about oil. During the summer months your sebaceous glands start to produce more oil than normal because of the heat and humidity.

Today is Father's Day. Since there is no one person that has had more influence on my business and my career than my father, I felt today would be a great day to write a bit about some of the things that I’ve learned from him over the years. Of course, this is not an exhaustive list. There is no way I could summarize all the lessons I've learned in a single blog post. But I can talk about how he's helped shaped my interest in entrepreneurship in the last 10 years. Here it goes.

Figure out what you want.

In my early twenties, I was very lost on what I wanted to do post college. I was studying new media design (a catch-all term for everything graphic, web and motion design related) but I wasn’t thrilled about working in the industry. It just didn’t feel like my calling. I spoke to my father who told me I needed to figure out what I wanted my life to look like. Where did I want to live? What should my days be like? Did I want to work at a design agency or in house creative division in corporate America? Maybe what I wanted was something else entirely? What was it?

Are you a natural skin care newbie wondering what all of it really means? Does it work, is it worth it and is it even legit?

First I want to start off by saying, I’m not one to condemn synthetics. As natural skin care has become more and more popular it has spawned an epidemic of companies marketing ‘natural’ skin care product as the safe alternative, implying or blatantly accusing everything else as being downright unsafe.

Despite being a short week, with work shutting down a day early in prep for the 4th, I feel like it's been a long couple of day waiting for the weekend. It's been interesting though. Here are a few highlights.

Having healthy skin is a holistic pursuit. In addition to knowing your ingredients and being all about what you put on your skin, it’s also about what you put into it. Did you know what you eat can affect how your skin looks and feels? You are what you eat. While there isn’t a scientifically proven link between good nutrition and healthy skin, most dermatologist agree, what you eat matters.

I love reading articles about health, wellness and minimalism; here are few good ones I found this week highlighting mindfulness, purpose through your morning routine and steps to embrace simplicity. Enjoy.

Tomorrow will mark the end of week 2 in the daily blog challenge where I’ve committed to writing every day for 30 days. I’m about halfway through.

This week’s content was less editorial and more informational. I finally got around to profiling more of our skin care ingredients like geranium, meadowfoam seed oil and hazelnut oil; something I desperately needed to do. There are so many ingredients to write about and it’s helped me to push through the writing blocks I’m experiencing, but I wasn’t able to push through enough to write more personally.

In my house, natural artisan lotion is a must have. It’s in every bathroom, it’s on our bags and cars, we travel with it, we take it to work. My mother, a doctor (and frequent hand washer!) swears she can’t live without it. Lotion use is not a simple luxury, for us it’s a necessity. I love lotion because it’s versatile. Beyond just moisturizing, lotion can add hydration and nourishment to your body, face and hair.

This week has been all about starting new habits, mainly the habit of consistent writing.

Today officially marks the end of week 1 in the Indie Business Network 30 Day Blog Challenge. So far, so good! If you’ve been following along, you know that I accepted the challenge to blog everyday for the next 30 days. It’s been hard, but I’ve managed to write something everyday day this week. How many days of consistency does it take to officially form a habit? I’m not sure but I’m on my way.

Over the last few days I've been exploring the driving forces that lead me to create Astrida Naturals.

There's nothing easy about starting a business, especially a skin care brand. I've talked about functional and emotional reasons I started Astrida Naturals. I had the idea from another business, the design background to create something I knew people would want and the maker mentality which fueled my drive to learn how to do it.

Have you ever wondered what drives an individual to start a skin care business?

Let's examine the facts.

There are countless skin care brands out there. Many, many high quality, interesting brands already exist. Many brands are already featuring natural and organic ingredients. Many brands are also lovingly made my artisans who are not very different than me.

Why start this kind of business when there is so much competition?
Does the world really need another bottle of lotion/butter/moisturizer/serum?

Back in February I wrote about starting anew with my commitment to writing by being more present with my blog.

Well, we are now halfway through June and I've posted only 2 blogs since then... but let's not focus on that!

A few days ago I accepted a challenge from two amazing business women, Donna Maria of the Indie Business Network and Stacia Guzzo of Handcrafted Honey Bee. The challenge is to blog everyday for 30 days straight.

I'm a city girl. I was born in Chicago, I live in Chicago. Though admittedly, I have done forced stints in suburbia - thanks to my parents and unavoidable career shuffles - ultimately, I thrive in city life.

However, there is one aspect of city living that I find challenging - the absence of nature.

While my heart thrives on the energy, culture and diversity of the city, it also longs for a deeper connection with the natural world.

Okay, so in the past I haven't been great about keeping up with this blog. There are a couple of excuses reasons for this.

First, I was afraid of being too personal. Astrida Naturals is my business after all, so when it came to blogging as a part of the business, I felt like I had to keep a certain level of distance. Ultimately this approach meant I've never felt super connected to the blog and as a result, I never knew what to write. When I did write something, it felt forced.